Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Electricity Interconnectors

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many high voltage direct current interconnectors are in place between the UK and other countries.

lord henley: The UK currently has 3.5 gigawatts of high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection to other countries across three interconnectors: 2 gigawatts to France (Interconnexion France-Angleterre);1 gigawatt to the Netherlands (BritNed);500 megawatts to Ireland (EWIC). In addition, there is a 500 megawatt cable to Northern Ireland (Moyle), which connects the GB market to the Irish Single Electricity Market. All interconnections between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are alternating current.

Fuel Poverty

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to eliminate fuel poverty.

lord henley: The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) requires energy companies to fund household energy efficiency improvements each year. 70% of ECO is now focussed on improving the energy efficiency of low income and vulnerable households and we intend to consult on moving that to 100% for the next Obligation period. Combined with energy bill rebates provided under the Government’s Warm Home Discount scheme, this is at least £770 million of support to low income and vulnerable households in 2017/18. In the Clean Growth Strategy, the Government committed to extend support for home energy efficiency out to 2028 at least as the current levels of ECO funding (£640m per annum), and review the best form of support beyond 2022, recognising the need both to save carbon and to meet the Government’s commitment to upgrade all fuel poor homes to Band C by 2030. In addition, Government has legislated so that from April 2018 all landlords of the worst performing privately rented properties must meet a minimum standard of Energy Performance Certificate Band E, before properties can be let. In the longer term, Government has committed to looking at raising energy performance standards across the private rented sector further, with a view for as many properties to reach Band C by 2030.

Audit

lord myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the concentration of the auditing profession; and whether any such concentration is eroding confidence in audits.

lord henley: The Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into competition in the audit market for companies in the FTSE 350 in 2011. It published its conclusions in 2013. The report is available at www.gov.uk/cma-cases/statutory-audit-services-market-investigation and can be found attached. The new EU Audit Regulation requires the competent authority for each Member State to monitor the audit market for all Public Interest Entities (banks, building societies, insurers and companies with securities traded on an EU regulated market). As the UK competent authority, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) publishes its findings in its annual Key Facts and Trends. It also publishes an annual report on Developments in Audit. Both are available on the FRC’s website, as are annual reports on the quality of audits by each of the six largest audit firms. This information is used to contribute each to a triennial report by the European Commission on monitoring developments in the EU market for statutory audit services to public-interest entities pursuant to Article 27 of the new EU Audit Regulation. The 2017 report can be accessed at https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/170907-statutory-audit-services-report_en and can be found attached.



EU audit report
(PDF Document, 548.71 KB)




CMA audit report
(PDF Document, 2.29 MB)

Department for Education

Civil Partnerships

lord lester of herne hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to extend civil partnership to opposite sex couples.

lord agnew of oulton: The government is proud to have introduced marriage for same-sex couples. We continue to keep the matter of civil partnerships under review. The government has consulted on the continued operation of civil partnerships and there has been little consensus. It is right that we evaluate the demand for civil partnerships before we make changes to the law. We are assessing the demand amongst both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. We believe it is still too early to judge how the law should be changed. There was a Judicial Review of our decision not to extend civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples and the claimants have recently been granted an appeal to the Supreme Court. As this is an ongoing legal case, we are unable to comment further at this stage.

Pupils: Attendance

the countess of mar: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written AnswerbyLord Agnew of Oulton on 6 December (HL3501), whether the Department for Education would normally expect to be made aware of any research concerning school attendance which involved the divulgence of names and addresses of school pupils by school attendance officers.

lord agnew of oulton: The department would not expect to be made aware of independent research with schools. We would, however, expect any research with schools to be carried out in accordance with ethical principles around anonymity and disclosure, which can be found in frameworks such as the ‘Ethical Assurance Guidance for Social Research in government’ which is attached.  



GSR Professional Guidance
(PDF Document, 132.41 KB)

Young Offenders: Education

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the measures and resources required to enable local authorities to provide support to young offenders who, without such support, could be at risk of being effectively excluded from education provision.

lord agnew of oulton: Under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 (as amended), local authorities have a duty to put alternative provision in place for children of compulsory school age who would not otherwise receive suitable education for any reason. A number of these children may be young offenders who are not in custody. The department issues statutory guidance for local authorities on alternative provision which outlines that good alternative provision (AP) should have arrangements for working with youth offending teams. Funding for compulsory school age children in alternative provision is made available to local authorities through high needs funding. The department also collects data annually on the number of children in local authority-commissioned alternative provision in schools, pupils and their characteristics. This can be found in the attached spreadsheet, which is part of information collected in the January 2017 school census available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2017. Where a child is in custody, education providers (in Youth Offending Institutions and Secure Training Centres) are required to assess the educational needs of young people. Their contracts also require them to provide support services for young people with special educational needs or disabilities.



Table 1B
(Excel SpreadSheet, 28.23 KB)

Pupils: Clothing

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, what educational policy objectives are supported by the advice to Ofsted inspectors from Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Schools, to ask young girls who wear a hijab why they do so; and what assessment they have made of the effect of that advice on equality of treatment and educational outcomes.

lord agnew of oulton: This is a matter for Ofsted; I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, to write to you. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Foster Care

the lord bishop of durham: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish (1) the results of the national fostering stocktake, and (2) their response to the stocktake.

lord agnew of oulton: The National Fostering Stocktake report will be published in the New Year. The department expects to publish the government’s response to the National Fostering Stocktake in Spring 2018.

Alternative Education

the earl of clancarty: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether parents and children have been asked for personal written consent for the transfer of personal data from local authorities to the Department for Education in the Alternative Provision census; or will be asked for such consent regarding data items to be included in the extension to the census for 18 January 2018.

the earl of clancarty: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether parents and children will be personally informed of the transfer of personal data from local authorities to the Department for Education in the Alternative Provision census from 18 January 2018.

the earl of clancarty: To ask Her Majesty's Government what data items will be transferred from local authorities to the Department for Education in the 2018 Alternative Provision census; and of those data items which (1) are optional and may be refused by parents, and (2) may not be refused by parents.

the earl of clancarty: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether data transferred from local authorities to the Department for Education (DfE) in the Alternative Provision census is named data; and if so, what regions in the UK such transfers to theDfE applies to; and why the transfer of such data to theDfE is considered to be necessary.

lord agnew of oulton: The alternative provision census is collected from local authorities on a statutory basis and, as such, does not require data providers to obtain written consent from parents or pupils to the provision of information.However, being transparent and providing accessible information to individuals about how you will use their personal data is a key element of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation. The most common way to make this information available to data subjects is via a privacy notice.The Department for Education (DfE) provides suggested wording for privacy notices that schools and local authorities may wish to use (attached) at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-protection-and-privacy-privacy-notices. However, the suggested wording provided by DfE must be reviewed and amended to reflect local needs and circumstances – especially as schools and local authorities may collect data for their own purposes locally that is not required for the purposes of DfE specified data collections.All data items collected via the alternative provision census are listed in Annex A which is attached.Whilst it is not possible for a parent/carer or an individual child to opt out of the alternative provision census, there is certain information which is self-declared and is gathered on a voluntary basis. For the alternative provision census, this is the data items referring to pupil ethnicity and the service child in education indicator, where the provision of this information may be refused by the parent. All other data items are mandatory where they apply to a particular pupil.The submission of the alternative provision census, including a named set of pupil records, is a statutory requirement on alternative provision providers under the Education (Information about Children in Alternative Provision) (England) Regulations 2007.As such, the alternative provision census requires the return of individual pupil records for pupils attending a school not maintained by a local authority for whom an English local authority is paying full tuition fees, or educated otherwise than in schools and pupil referral units, under arrangements made (and funded) by an English local authority.Where a child of compulsory school age would not receive suitable education because of illness, exclusion or for any other reason, local authorities have a duty to provide a suitable ‘alternative provision’. The alternative provision census is the department’s primary source of administrative data about such pupils and, as such, the information collected is fundamental to understanding the ongoing effectiveness of the alternative provision system in order to target, and evaluate, policy interventions to support these vulnerable children. 



Privacy Notices Local Authorities
(Word Document, 30.13 KB)




Privacy Notices School Workforce
(Word Document, 30.02 KB)




Annex A
(Word Document, 16.29 KB)

Department for Work and Pensions

Poverty

lord bird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from measures to tackle the root causes of poverty taken by the devolved administrations, social enterprises, non-governmental organisations, charities and other organisations.

baroness buscombe: Officials in DWP continue to engage with external organisations and with devolved administrations on a wide range of welfare issues, including constructive discussions about approaches to tackling poverty. The Government is very clear that work is the best route out of poverty and our welfare reforms are designed to incentivise employment and support people to progress in work.In April this year we published Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families which sets out a framework to improve outcomes for workless families, now and in the future. Central to this approach is effective joint working between Jobcentre Plus and local partners, including third sector organisations, which specialise in supporting people with multiple and complex needs, to ensure coordination of support and sharing of expertise at a local level. Children in workless families are significantly more disadvantaged, and achieve poorer educational and employment outcomes than other children, including those in lower-income working families. That is why we will continue with policies that support and encourage employment - reforming the welfare system to make work pay. And these policies are working: since 2010, there are 3 million more people in work, with 954,000 fewer workless households, and 608,000 fewer children in workless households across the UK. The UK unemployment rate has not been lower since 1975 and the proportion of workless households is at its lowest since records began.  



Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families
(PDF Document, 789.31 KB)

Jobseeker's Allowance: Refugees

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to make changes to Department for Work and Pensions rules that impact on the ability of refugees to claim jobseeker's allowance and simultaneously access full-time English language lessons.

baroness buscombe: One of the conditions of Jobseeker’s Allowance is that the recipient must be available for work. This is why it is not an appropriate benefit for those who are studying full time. However, Refugees who are new to the UK can claim Income Support if they are learning English language for 15 hours or more per week. This is in recognition that for this particular group, integration and employment will be made more possible if they have a basic understanding of the English language.

Personal Independence Payment: Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome

lord rooker: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made special arrangements for people with Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome who are transferring from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments.

baroness buscombe: All existing Disability Living Allowance claimants who were aged 16 to 64 on 8 April 2013, or who reach age 16 thereafter, are being invited to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP). With the exception of those claiming under the special provisions for people who are terminally ill, all claims to PIP are treated in the same way and are subject to an assessment of needs to determine entitlement and the correct rate to pay benefit. Most people will be asked to attend a face-to-face consultation with a trained independent assessor. However, we recognise that attending a face-to-face assessment can be a stressful experience for some people, which is why we do not carry out face-to-face consultations where there is enough existing evidence to determine benefit entitlement. Furthermore, where a face-to-face consultation is required, that can take place in a claimant’s home if they are unable to travel to an assessment centre. We and our Assessment Providers also encourage claimants to bring another person with them to consultations where they would find this helpful to, for example, reassure them or to help them during the consultation.

Department for Communities and Local Government

High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 7 December (HL3522), how many high-rise buildings have flammable insulation similar to that used on Grenfell Tower.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: I refer the noble Lord to my answer on 7 December (HL3522). In addition, the department published it’s most recent data release on 18 December (attached) which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-monthly-data-release-december-2017.



Building safety programme data
(PDF Document, 598.67 KB)

Domestic Violence: Refuges

lord lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the petition by 38 degreescalling for rent money for women and children in domestic violence refuges to be paid directly to their refuges rather than to the relevant local authority.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Government is currently consulting on housing costs for short term supported accommodation – deadline 23 January 2018. The consultation document can be found here at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-for-supported-housingWe have also committed to review the locally led approach to refuge provision in our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. This review will cover funding for refuges, including the critical care and support costs, and will take place by November 2018 so that our findings can be taken into consideration prior to implementing the new funding model for short term supported housing in 2020.We are continuing to explore all options for future delivery of refuge services, including a national model for refuges.



The consultation document
(PDF Document, 801.66 KB)

Grenfell Tower: Fires

lord lea of crondall: To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they have provided to local authorities to provide (1) temporary, and (2) permanent, accommodation for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire; and whether that support is expected to meet all the additional costs.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: To date the government has committed to providing funding to Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) to provide the following support to those who have permanently lost their homes as a result of the fire: Funding for the cost of hotel accommodation provided whilst offers of permanent and temporary accommodation are being made.Funding to meet the rental costs and core utility bills in temporary and permanent accommodation once residents are able to leave hotels. This will ensure all residents will not pay rent or utility bills until July 1st 2019.Additionally, my Department has made a further £6 million available to RBKC for use in supporting residents needs beyond housing. This is helping to fund food allowances, support for funeral expenses and other hardship payments where the council deem them appropriate.

High Rise Flats: Kensington and Chelsea

lord bird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to press the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to install sprinklers in the neighbouring blocks to Grenfell Tower as quickly as possible; and what steps they will take if no such sprinklers are installed.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: Government advice on sprinkler systems is clear. For new blocks of flats over 30m in height, the statutory guidance states that sprinklers should be fitted. For existing buildings, it is a decision for the building owner whether to retro-fit sprinklers as part of a broader fire safety strategy for the building, informed by expert advice and taking into account the particular risk facing residents and the other fire safety measures used in the building.

Homes and Communities Agency

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many actions the Homes and Communities Agency has taken against social housing providers in the last five years.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: Registered Social housing providers are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing. The Regulator of Social Housing has a number of tools available allowing it to take action where there is evidence that a registered provider is not meeting the requirements of the Regulators Standards.Details of all judgements made by the regulator (attached)may be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulatory-judgements-and-regulatory-notices.



Regulatory judgements
(Excel SpreadSheet, 155.37 KB)

Housing: Construction

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many schemes have received funding through the Homes Building Fund to date.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: To date the Home Building Fund has contracted 153 schemes, worth over £1.4 billion in loan funding, which will deliver over 88,000 homes. At budget the Chancellor announced an additional £1.5 billion funding for the fund to support small and medium sized builders, custom builders and innovation.

Hedges and Ditches

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the procedures in place regarding high hedges, high hedge remedial notices, and appeals.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: Local Authorities are best placed to consider unresolved disputes regarding high hedges. These procedures are set out in Planning Practice Guidance. The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 enables local authorities to intervene and gives people who are unhappy with a council’s decision a right of appeal to the Secretary of State.

Planning Permission

lord birt: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 12 December (HL3815), whether they have any plans to raise the performance threshold for local authorities to determine planning applications within the statutory timescale (1) above the 60 per cent threshold for major applications, and (2) above the 70 per cent threshold for non-major applications.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The performance thresholds for the designation regime are set out in a Criteria Document, which can be viewed (attached) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/571144/Improving_Planning_Performance_-_Criteria_for_Designation__revised_2016_.pdfWe are ensuring that the criteria set out in this document continue to be relevant and are delivering positive outcomes from local planning authorities. Any further changes to the criteria would be published by the Secretary of State for consultation and laid before both houses of Parliament for scrutiny.



Planning Performance criteria for designation
(PDF Document, 311.69 KB)

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Charities

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last conducted a review of registered charities that perform state commissioned services; and whether that review covered (1) value for money, (2) executive pay, and (3) lobbying operations.

lord ashton of hyde: It is the responsibility of the authorities commissioning services to conduct appropriate due diligence on service providers and ensure value for money for the commissioned service. Government is committed to supporting the continuous improvement of commissioning practice, for example through a range of Commissioning Academies.

Charities: Pay

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last conducted a review of the remuneration of chief executives and senior managers of registered charities.

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Charity Commission about levels of remuneration for chief executives and senior managers of registered charities.

lord ashton of hyde: Executive pay is a matter for a charity’s trustees to determine, acting in the best interests of their charity. The Government has not undertaken a specific review but notes a 2014 review of executive pay by The National Council for Voluntary Organisations which found that senior executives in charities were on average paid substantially less than for similar roles in the public or private sectors. The Charity Commission regulates charities in England and Wales and is an independent, non-ministerial department. The Charity Commission has recently consulted on whether charities should report further on executive pay in their annual return, and if this information should be published for the public to view on the Charity Commission’s charity search tool. The Charity Commission is analysing consultation feedback and will set out next steps in due course. The Government and Charity Commission have regular meetings to discuss the legal and regulatory framework for charities.

Data Protection: USA

lord laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to replace the EU–USPrivacy Shield insofar as it relates to the UK, following Brexit.

lord ashton of hyde: The EU-US Privacy Shield contains protections only available to those within the EU. We will therefore discuss with the US how best to ensure that the current protections afforded to UK citizens can be maintained post exit. We want a smooth and orderly transition to our new arrangements.

Television: Smoking

lord storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what restrictions they impose on the portrayal of smoking on television in relation to young people.

lord ashton of hyde: Broadcasting regulation is a matter for Ofcom, the independent regulator. Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code specifies that smoking must not be featured in programmes made primarily for children unless there is strong editorial justification. In addition, smoking must be generally avoided, and must not be condoned, encouraged or glamorised in programmes broadcast before the watershed or programmes likely to be widely seen by under-eighteens, unless there is editorial justification.

Youth Services

lord storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what statutory requirements are imposed on local authorities in relation to youth service.

lord ashton of hyde: Section 507B of the Education Act 1996 (as amended by the Education and Inspections Act 1996) requires local authorities to secure access to sufficient services and activities to improve young people’s well-being, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Data Protection: EU Law

lord laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Court of Justice of the European Union will continue to have jurisdiction in the UK after Brexit in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation.

lord ashton of hyde: The Data Protection Bill was introduced on 13 September. The Bill is intended to create a new data protection framework fit for the digital age, which incorporates the provisions of the EU’s GDPR into domestic law. It builds on existing standards for protecting personal data, in accordance with the GDPR, giving people more control over use of their data, and providing new rights to move or delete personal data. The EU (Withdrawal) Bill will ensure that the remainder of the GDPR is incorporated into domestic law. In leaving the European Union, we will bring about an end to the direct jurisdiction of the CJEU in the UK.

Data Protection: Northern Ireland

lord laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultations they have held with the parties in Northern Ireland on whether Northern Ireland will be subject to the General Data Protection Regulation after Brexit.

lord ashton of hyde: The Data Protection Bill, which includes the implementation of GDPR into UK law, will apply to Northern Ireland post Brexit. We have engaged with Northern Ireland Executive in the creation of the Bill.

Data Protection

lord laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what will be the status in the UK after Brexit of previous decisions by the Court of Justice of the European Union, such as the Judgement of 6 October 2015 in Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner.

lord ashton of hyde: Clause 6 of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill provides that UK courts must continue to interpret unmodified retained EU law in accordance with retained EU case law and retained EU general principles, so far as they are relevant to that retained EU law. EU case law is retained to the extent it relates to anything falling within clauses 2-4 of the Bill, and is not excluded by clause 5 and Schedule 1. Clause 6 also provides that the UK Supreme Court and High Court of Justiciary will be able to depart from pre-exit CJEU case law, using the the same tests they do when departing from their own case law. This is without prejudice to the detail of the implementation period, which will be for negotiations.

Department of Health

Health Professions: Training

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to train additional medical staff from the UK to replace existing staff from other EU countries who have left or might leave the NHS.

lord o'shaughnessy: In October 2016, the Government announced a historic expansion of medical school places increasing medical school places in England by 1,500. The first 500 places have already been allocated and will be available to students in September 2018. The remaining 1,000 additional medical school places would be available to medical schools in England via a competitive bidding process managed jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Health Education England. We have also announced a 25% increase in nurse training places to provide at least 5,000 extra nurse training places every year from 2018/19 - 25,850 from 2018/19 compared to 20,680 in 2016/17. National Health Service workforce training in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are matters for the devolved administrations in each of those countries.

NHS: Finance

lord porter of spalding: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement byLord O'Shaughnessyon 7 December (HL Deb, col 1197), what assessment they have made of the extent to which additional money made available to the NHS in the Autumn Budget will reduce pressures on the social care system; and how the impact of that additional money on that system will be effectively assessed and monitored.

lord o'shaughnessy: At the spring Budget we announced an additional £2 billion will be given to councils over the next three years for social care. In total, we have given councils access to £9.25 billion more dedicated funding for social care over the next three years. The autumn Budget has provided an additional £42 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant for the rest of the 2017-18 financial year, taking funding for this year to £473 million, supporting people on low-incomes to make home adaptations, to help them to live more independently for longer in their own homes.The additional money made available in the autumn Budget will be directed to NHS services. The autumn Budget announced £2.8 billion of additional resource funding over 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 for the National Health Service in England for day to day spending, for example planned operations and emergency care. This will help it to get back on track to meet its performance targets on waiting times in accident and emergency and after patients are referred to treatment. It will ensure that more patients receive the care that they need more quickly. This includes £337 million this winter to help trusts to increase capacity. Of the £337 million winter fund, £150 million will fund NHS plans to deal with a winter surge and ensure sufficient capacity for elective treatment, with a further £50 million to follow. The autumn Budget also committed £3.5 billion of new capital investment by 2022/23 to transform its estate and drive further efficiency savings.

Medical Equipment: Children

baroness bertin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the 2014 report published by the British Healthcare Trades Association on the economic benefits of improved provision of equipment for disabled and terminally ill children.

lord o'shaughnessy: The report by the British Healthcare Trades Association concluded that the costs of medical care would be significantly reduced through more effective provision of equipment, and the National Health Service is continually seeking to improve equipment provision and use. NHS England is leading work to improve wheelchair commissioning and posture services through the development and dissemination of its wheelchair service specification and by working with commissioners to eliminate 18 week waits for wheelchairs by the end of 2018/19. Since 2016, the Department has funded sports activity prostheses for children who have suffered limb loss or congenital limb deficiency.

Mefloquine

the countess of mar: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 19 December (HL3942), whether they consider (1) suicide, and (2) the “irreversible” neurological condition described in the current mefloquine product information to be permanent adverse reactions.

lord o'shaughnessy: The product information refers to irreversible neuropathic conditions, which are conditions affecting the nervous system.The product information states that neuropsychiatric adverse reactions, such as mood disturbances, psychosis and vestibular disorders, may occur during treatment and includes warnings and precautions to minimise these risks. Some of these reactions may persist, but it has not been established whether these are permanent.Mefloquine is effective in the prevention and treatment of malaria and is approved by the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates medication in the United Kingdom. As with all medicines, the MHRA keeps the safety of mefloquine under continual review. Mefloquine continues to be recommended as a safe and effective form of malaria prevention by the Advisory Committee on Malaria Prevention, the World Health Organization and other respected organisations who take account of the body of global evidence.